The Tory government is facing criticism for helping fund a new $9-million school the Calgary Board of Education wants to build for elite athletes, while suburban communities are facing packed classrooms and are waiting for new schools of their own.

The province is chipping in $3 million, while the CBE's charitable arm, EducationMatters, is raising the rest to build a new National Sport School at Canada Olympic Park.

Parents in some Calgary suburbs schools are unhappy with the decision, with one of them calling the sport school a "vanity project."

Wildrose education critic Bruce McAllister said it doesn't make sense to devote provincial funding to the project when the government plans to construct regular schools by borrowing money.

"I can't understand how we're going into debt to finance the schools that we need in this province, and we can find money for specialized projects," McAllister said.

The $3 million the province is spending comes from savings during the construction of the new Ernest Manning High School in Springbank Hill, a project jointly funded by the province and the city for up to $30 million apiece.

The National Sport School program has been around since 1994 and had been housed in the old Ernest Manning High School, which was demolished to make way for the west LRT.

Education Minister Jeff Johnson defends the new sport school and says the province looks favourably at the idea of letting school boards use leftover money if a project comes in under budget. He said the Ernest Manning funding was earmarked for the school and all the programs inside.

"You got a world class Olympic Park in Calgary, why as a province (would) we not take advantage of that," Johnson said. "I'm sympathetic to that, that makes a lot of sense to me.

"If it's not costing us as a province any more money than we had originally earmarked to provide that program in Calgary, then why wouldn't we look at it?"

Records show the CBE's original intention had been to move the National Sport School program into the new Ernest Manning High School, which had the capacity to take additional students.

"It is assumed that National Sport School, which is housed in Ernest Manning High School, will remain a part of Ernest Manning High School," according to minutes of a Sept. 25, 2008, community engagement meeting. "If that changes, the communities of National Sport School will have additional opportunities to engage in discussions regarding any possible relocation to Canada Olympic Park."

An October 2008 news release from the CBE said the National Sport School and other programs "can all be accommodated in the new (Ernest Manning) school."

The CBE, however, ultimately decided to go with the second option and signed a lease with WinSport, for $10 a year, to move the school to Canada Olympic Park.

Last year, however, there was still room at the new Ernest Manning: the high school has a capacity of 1,800, but the 2011-2012 enrolment was 1,302.

CBE chairwoman Pat Cochrane has said it made sense to have athletes go to school at Canada Olympic Park, near where they train. That lease will expire, and there are now plans to build a permanent school, with a December 2014 completion date being eyed.

Students at the National Sport School currently pay $4,100 a year to attend. Supporters say the school allows athletes the flexible schedule and smaller pupil/teachers ratios so they can train and compete around the world.

But a new National Sport School building has never been identified as a priority in the CBE's capital planning, a list that is asking the province for 15 new suburban schools and major upgrades to older ones.

That's angered parents in communities where classrooms are either packed or there are no schools at all.

Rocky Ridge parent Garry Knipe, who has a son in Grade 2, called the sport school a "vanity project" and said he was blindsided to learn money was being dedicated.

Residents in Rocky Ridge and Royal Oak have pushed hard for a new middle school. Currently, children in grades 5 to 9 are bused up to half an hour one way to Simon Fraser School in Brentwood.

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Alberta Tories criticized for helping to fund new Calgary school for elite athletes

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